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Overview
Key data
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Excavated | 2018–2019, Hujia Caochang tomb 12, Jingzhou, Hubei |
| Period | Emperor Wen to Emperor Jing of Han |
| Titles | “Solstice,” “Calendar,” “Day Book,” and others |
| Associated finds | Over four thousand slips, a large find of recent years |
| Publication | The Jingzhou Hujia Caochang Western Han Slips |
“Solstice” and the solstices
The solstices are midwinter and midsummer. The ancients took midwinter as the starting point of the calendar;
measuring the length of the noonday shadow at the solstice is the most basic step in constructing a calendar.
That “Solstice” is a chapter of its own shows the weight the moment carried in the calendar of the time.
The other texts found with it
Tomb 12 at Hujia Caochang yielded over four thousand slips, including a “Calendar,” “Solstice,” and a “Day Book”:
a body of calendrical texts complete in its parts. Editing of so large a recent find is still in progress.
Value
Fixing the solstitial point is where an ancient calendar stands.
“Solstice” preserves the textual form of that step, of direct value to the history of the calendar.
Full text
No electronic full text of this work is available here. This is an archaeological find or artefact, for which no transmitted full text exists.
The title, date, summary and index structure compiled here are offered under CC BY 4.0 (attribution: Chujia Kuang · kuangchujia.com).
Compiled and arranged by Chujia Kuang.